<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3AAMgw_0vkmYEws00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3AAMgw_0vkmYEws00" width="1920" height="1080" ><figcaption>Ethel Kvalheim’s rosemaling designs can be seen on a variety of surfaces, including pottery. Photo submitted</figcaption></figure>Do you know that Stoughton has played a unique role in preserving the art of Rosemaling and inintroducing that art to America?Three Stoughton citizens have been awarded gold medals in Rosemaling from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa. Those recipients are Ethel Kvalheim, Vi Thode and Nancy Odalen. Three of Stoughton's prominent Rosemaling artists have been inducted into the Stoughton, Wisconsin Hall of Fame. Those honorees are Per Lysne, Ethel Kvalheim and Vi Thode.Per Lysne emigrated to Stoughton from Laerdal, Norway in 1906. He found work striping wagon wheels and painting wagon boxes. During the Great Depression he made ends meet by painting colorful plates and trays with Rosemaled designs, which were advertised and sold by catalog. The popularity of his designs grew as did his reputation. Per Lysne became known as the man responsible for the revival of the art of Rosemaling, an art dormant in Norway for many decades.Ethel Kvalheim, a neighbor of Per Lysne, often watched him paint and was fascinated by the art form. She worked to master the art, and became so adept that she was awarded the first gold medal in Rosemaling from Vesterheim in 1969. In 1971, she was awarded Norway's Medal of St. Olav in recognition of her art. The National Endowment for the Arts Folk Arts Program awarded her a National Heritage Fellowship in 1989. Mayor Doug Pfundheller led a busload of Ethel's friends to Washington, D.C. to cheer her on as she won that prestigious national award.Vi Thode became a Rosemaler by accident in the 1960s. The upholstering class she tried to sign up for was filled. She was talked into signing up for a Rosemaling class instead, once Rosemaling was explained to her. She caught on to the art form so well, that after four ten week sessions, she began to teach Rosemaling. Vesterheim awarded her the gold medal in Rosemaling in 1970.She wrote five popular books on Rosemaling in the 1970s and '80s. Many of Vi Thode's students became prominent artists. One admirer of Vi, Nancy Odalen, was awarded the gold medal in Rosemaling by Vesterheim in 2022.The art of Rosemaling, went from dormant to popular, thanks to the hard work of talented Stoughton artists.</div></body>

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Norsk Rosemaling: Preserving and promoting the art

Do you know that Stoughton has played a unique role in preserving the art of Rosemaling and in. Three Stoughton citizens have been awarded gold medals in Rosemaling from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa. Those recipients are Ethel Kvalheim, Vi Thode and Nancy Odalen. Three of Stoughton's prominent Rosemaling artists have been inducted into the Stoughton, Wisconsin Hall of Fame. Those honorees are Per Lysne, Ethel Kvalheim and Vi Thode.